RIYADH: A Saudi ministry has signed an investment contract for the first “coffee city” in the Kingdom. The dealwith the Agricultural Cooperative Society in Baljurashi, which lasts for 15 years, was signed under the patronage of Abdul Rahman Al-Fadhli, the minister of environment, water and agriculture, and in the presence of Ahmed Al-Ayada, the undersecretary for agriculture. The ministry said that agreement aims to achieve sustainability of agricultural products and crops, encourage agricultural investment, develop vegetation cover, create local job opportunities, and enhance the role of cooperative societies in the Kingdom. The agreement includes the cultivation of 300,000 coffee arabica seedlings and pomegranate trees on a 1,662,373-square-meter site in the village of Mashuqa, in Al-Qura governorate, Al-Baha. It will include a model farm, an integrated nursery for cultivating coffee seedlings, and an industrial center that includes workshops, warehouses, a business center, on-site accommodation, a training center and a mosque. The ministry is working to develop the production, manufacture and marketing of coffee arabica. The regions of Jazan, Al-Baha and Asir are among the most important and best-cultivated coffee-growing regions in the Kingdom.